NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While the majority of organizations that use artificial intelligence (AI) are still experimenting with the technology, only 12% are using it at an AI maturity level that achieves a strong competitive advantage, according to new global research from Accenture (NYSE: ACN). "The Art of AI Maturity: Advancing from Practice to Performance" uncovers strategies for AI success through a holistic framework, which includes a new index to express company AI maturity on a 0-100 scale. According to the research, AI maturity is the degree to which organizations outperform their peers in a combination of AI-related foundational and differentiating capabilities. These capabilities include the technology -- data, AI, cloud -- as well as organizational strategy, Responsible AI, C-suite sponsorship, talent and culture. The research puts the median AI maturity of organizations at a moderate score of 36, revealing most companies have significant opportunities to generate greater value with AI.

Long thought of as a tool to increase efficiency and save costs, AI has now proven to be an innovation driver that enables business growth. According to our latest Accenture research on AI among 1,200 global companies, "AI Achievers"--those companies that are the most AI-mature--enjoy 50% greater revenue growth, clearly outpacing their competitors. Why, then, are most organizations (63%) stuck in the experimentation phase with AI? Because AI initiatives are often led with timidity and are hampered by "pilot-itis," a fixation on pilot projects at the expense of scale. Speaking to a select group of CEOs as part of the research revealed an opportunity--and the need--for companies' most senior leaders to increase their AI expertise.

Long thought of as a tool to increase efficiency and save costs, AI has now proven to be an innovation driver that enables business growth. According to our latest Accenture research on AI among 1,200 global companies, "AI Achievers"--those companies that are the most AI-mature--enjoy 50% greater revenue growth, clearly outpacing their competitors. Why, then, are most organizations (63%) stuck in the experimentation phase with AI? Because AI initiatives are often led with timidity and are hampered by "pilot-itis," a fixation on pilot projects at the expense of scale. Speaking to a select group of CEOs as part of the research revealed an opportunity--and the need--for companies' most senior leaders to increase their AI expertise.

The need for financial institutions to quickly operationalize their artificial intelligence capabilities has moved beyond important to imperative. More than supporting risk and fraud analysis, and increased productivity, a higher level of AI maturity at banks and credit unions will be a competitive differentiator, increasing business value across the organization. The banking industry must move out of the formative stages of AI deployment to help enhance human intelligence. This includes uncovering the drivers of key performance measures such as revenue and profit, and propelling innovation in products, services, processes and customer service. All financial institutions have the ability within reach to harness insights at scale – leveraging the right information, from the right people, at the right time.

The need for financial institutions to quickly operationalize their artificial intelligence capabilities has moved beyond important to imperative. More than supporting risk and fraud analysis, and increased productivity, a higher level of AI maturity at banks and credit unions will be a competitive differentiator, increasing business value across the organization. The banking industry must move out of the formative stages of AI deployment to help enhance human intelligence. This includes uncovering the drivers of key performance measures such as revenue and profit, and propelling innovation in products, services, processes and customer service. All financial institutions have the ability within reach to harness insights at scale – leveraging the right information, from the right people, at the right time.

A new study from Accenture says just 12% of firms have figured out how to deploy AI to "achieve superior growth and business transformation." In other words, there's quite a bit of work yet to be done when it comes to AI success. The correlation between AI use and business achievement is still positive. As far back as 2019, Accenture noted that top AI achievers see 50% better revenue growth than their peers who are not AI experts. No one is calling for an AI rethink, yet progress seems to be coming painfully slowly in the real-world branch of the AI discussion.

Accenture's latest report on AI and how businesses use it has found that only 12% of nearly 1200 companies worldwide (termed AI Achievers) have advanced their AI maturity enough to achieve superior growth and business transformation. That's despite AI and machine learning being embedded in most of our everyday processes. Every time you use a wayfinding app to get from point A to point B, use dictation to convert speech to text, or unlock your phone using face ID - you're relying on AI. Unfortunately, most businesses (63%) are still testing the waters regarding this new technology. In its new report, The Art of AI Maturity, Accenture designed a holistic AI-maturity framework.

This week: LaMDA's Sentience is Nonsense, Condemning the deployment of GPT-4chan, Only 12% of companies are'AI Achievers', EU To Target Big Tech, Over Deepfakes, and more! If you are a fan, we'd appreciate your feedback! Feel free to let us know your thoughts via a review on Apple Podcast, email to contact@lastweekin.ai, or just DM us on Twitter!

In Spain, the Madrid Metro uses AI to monitor its network and reduce energy consumption by 25%. In the U.S., a beverage company uses AI to drive sales by analyzing retailers and markets. In Europe, an energy company trains its engineers and managers in a digital twin factory powered by AI. In the Middle East, a telco's AI-powered virtual assistant speaks to 1.65 million customers every month in different Arab dialects and English. Undoubtedly, AI is in full adoption around the world, with all industries recognizing it as the next big thing in tech.

So far, so good: Where AI is mature, business success follows. It's too early to tell if artificial intelligence (AI) will deliver on all the hype and promises around it. But in the meantime, the results we do see trickling in are encouraging. A survey just released shows that the majority of organizations that use AI are still experimenting with the technology, with about 12% have the technology truly at work in a fully "mature" fashion. The mature AI sites notably are seeing strong competitive advantage.